The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Does anyone have suggestions for components I could include in a long term working like this? What would you include in the kitchen side of things?

Common use for bindrunes or sigils, like the Ogham.

Four other things I've done for long-term workings:

1) Playlist

It doesn't need to be Obviously Pagan/magical music - just anything that keeps you focused on your goal.

It works best for me if I can hook into emotions I would feel if I had that goal - so for my job hunting mix last year, there was music about being joyful and happy, and music about being comfortable and at peace, and music about a sense of place (for a couple of different places with some things in common)

I've found at least 2-3 hours works best, but if you plan to listen to it for long stretches, make it longer than that, because it's easier to get annoyed if there are a lot of bits of repetition.

(For a creative project, I'd be tempted right now to include about half a dozen songs from Hamilton, but that's me

2) Drawing

One thing I do for a direction for long-term workings is a sort of combination of doodling and simple sketching. I use symbols, words, little line drawings of what I want to have happen, what I want the outcome to look like and feel like, and then I put it somewhere I can see it every day.

I do mine in watercolor pencils (I use a brand called Inktense, that are gorgeously deeply pigmented) and then once I have a drawing I like, use the process of going over it with a wet brush to activate it. I usually end up doing a couple of sketches to get it right.

They work best for me if they're lightly symbolic, but also sort of open-ended - a "this is the goal, not how I'm getting there" mode.

3) Passwords + backgrounds
If you have passwords you type regularly (I do this with my work ones, where I have to type it a couple of times a day, and I also have to change it every few months), change them to something that reflects your current magical goals.

(Obviously, pick something really secure to things you need a really secure password for. One trick that can work magically for this one is a sentence of intention or affirmation or whatever, and then take the first letter from each word, change a couple into numbers or symbols, and take it from there.)

Ditto phone / computer / etc. backgrounds - pick something that's meaningful to you about your goal, or how you want to feel about your goal. It doesn't have to be obviously Pagan or magical: there are lots of great photographs out there via Creative Commons that are very evocative, and where all anyone else who sees it is going to think is "Hey, that's gorgeous."

4) Jewelry

I do jewelry for specific goals. Sometimes it's a piece I bought (or my last job hunt, friends went to New Zealand and sent me something that had made them both think of me, and I wore it all the time until I got my job, because it was symbolically right, and it was also a constant reminder of the fact I had people who cared about me, and wanted me to be happy, and who thought that happiness was a thing I could have. Just wearing it helped.

Etsy can be a good source for 'made by someone individual' and 'not obvious' and 'personally symbolic', though there are lots of other options, too.

This is also a good use for something like an anklet or something you wear but isn't very visible, though with long term wear, you want to think carefully about materials, wear, if there are parts of your life where you'd want or need to take it off normally, etc.